


Mischief Managed

by amandaithink



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-30
Updated: 2013-06-26
Packaged: 2017-12-13 10:06:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/823047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandaithink/pseuds/amandaithink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Science. Magic. Darker Tony. I'm not sure yet. This is going to be the first time I do a fic without pre-writing a good amount first. I'll change this once there's more story, but I'm so excited to be able to work with your suggestions. This could be interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm nervous about this. This is my first work posted to AO3. Let's see how it goes...

“JARVIS I need you to reconfigure the portal energy sequence subtracting the readings from the tesseract at that time.” 

_Reconfiguration begun. Estimated completion: 3 hours and 45 minutes._

Tony Stark was a man obsessed. Ever since the battle of Manhattan he began trying to rationalize magic with science. Math. Physics. There were rules to the universe and there was no way that all of these alien beings could disregard them all so easily. Of the many things he was, Tony was also a scientist; he asked questions and he wasn’t going to stop until he got the answers. So he finished off his sixth cup of coffee and swiveled in his chair to look at another screen. 

Admittedly, no one else was Tony Stark, but SHIELD’s security was just too easy for him to hack into. He was now in possession of all their files on the tesseract, Loki, and his scepter. Also there was all of their information on the Chitari that they had gathered after confiscating all of the bodies and weapons from New York. What he hadn’t expected to find was all of Jane Foster’s notes. Apparently when Thor first arrived on Earth in New Mexico it had been her that he crashed into and she had some of the best data and information that he could have hoped for. Even before the Avengers, Tony had heard of the Foster Theory. She was a very respected and highly talented astrophysicist and her theory of wormholes to other dimensions had been intriguing - though not exactly what he had been focused on at the time. Now, however, he had more than enough information to start forming the basic background code behind ‘magic’ and an incredible amount of data on what Thor had called the ‘bifrost’. 

“Hey Jarv, how’s project gay pride doing?” 

_Rendering of the generating system is 73% complete. Sir, might I remind you that  should the government find out that you are constructing a device capable of manipulating dark matter they-_

“Alright mom, I won’t go showing off my new toy and making all the other kids jealous. What were the percentages for the transfer ray again?”

_Theoretically, to properly function the transfer ray must have an entering percentage of 145% and an exiting percentage of 250% - to generate over 100% of any compatible energy source the generating system must be able to spin at speeds faster than most rockets._

“Good, I’ll go up there in-”

_Sir, you have guests. The Avengers as well as several SHIELD operatives and-_

 “What makes them think they can just barge into my tower? Ugh...let them up into the penthouse and tell them I’ll be down in a minute,” Tony said as he began exiting out of all his projects. He hadn’t slept in 3 days or eaten in about 2 - his mind was on what he considered more important matters. Now that he was heading back into the real world (as opposed to his own world) he realized just how tired and hungry he really was. So while he as riding down to greet his uninvited guests, he asked JARVIS to order some pizza.

“Hey so glad you all could make it - oh wait. I didn’t invite you,” he said as he emerged into the open living room, seeing Fury, Natasha, and Steve immediately in front of him. 

“Well you’re going to have to get used to it, Stark. We’ve decided to approve and initiate the Avengers Headquarters proposal. So congrats - you have six new roommates,” Fury stated, as if it was already set in stone.

“Excuse me? This is _my tower_. I may be a SHIELD consultant and part time Avenger, but that does not give you the right to just take over my stuff. I’m pretty sure I give you guys enough funding that you could build your own Avengers headquarters. Stark Industries operates out of at least, like, 15 or something of these floors. It can’t be some secure fortress, normal people come here to do their jobs.” 

“I think we all know that if SHIELD built us a headquarters you wouldn’t set foot in it,” Natasha said, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow as her eyes locked dead on his. _Damn her and her super spy shit._ Tony just shrugged in response. She wasn’t wrong. 

“We could set up headquarters at your Malibu mansion?” Steve offered.

Tony stared at him as if he was stupid. “The Malibu house doesn’t- Steve, where have you been?”

“I was traveling to see if-”

“My house was blown up by wannabe terrorists trying to push extremis-”

“Enough! We have much more to go over than just where all of your sorry asses are going to live.”

“Lovely,” Tony huffed, shoving past the three bearers of stupid news and into the room proper. 

Most people, upon seeing an insane war criminal who had tried to take over the planet and had thrown them out a window, would have screamed in fright or in anger. They would have reacted negatively in some way to express their unhappiness with the situation and their hatred for that individual. Tony Stark was not most people. 

“Oh look who’s back! It’s Rock of Ages - see you’ve chosen to go hornless. Good move. Is the eye thing a fashion statement? Because believe me, I think I knew your favourite colour before.”

He received no response from the god in question, but the rest of the Avengers certainly had something to say. 

“Eyes?” Thor asked, a crease appearing in between his eyebrows making his confusion all the more apparent. 

“I know we’re all here right now, and he doesn’t have the...what did you call it? The ‘glowstick of...?” 

“Destiny.”

“Yeah, that. I still don’t think you should try to goad him,” Bruce said with a slight chuckle. 

“No, no please, I beg of you - give me an excuse to put one of these straight through his-”

“Clint.” On glance from Natasha had the archer shutting up. 

“Well, I see we’re all in great moods. Anyone want a drink?” Tony asked, strolling over to his bar. He had to admit, this felt a little familiar. 

“Man of Iron, what is it you spoke of my brother’s eyes?” Thor asked again.

“Dude’s got green eyes,” Tony replied absentmindedly as he poured himself a scotch. 

“Yes, I know,” Thor replied, not seeming any less confused. 

“So what are you asking me? Hey, anyone want a drink?”

“Me. Please!” Clint said, walking past the rest of the group and glaring at Loki on the way to the bar. 

“Vodka and water. Light on the water.”

“Fuckin’ Russians,” Tony laughed, shaking his head as he made Natasha her drink. 

“My brother has always had green eyes,” Thor said, making Tony pause as he was pouring whiskey for Clint.

“Uh...no offense Pikachu, but I got a pretty good look at his eyes before he defenestrated me over there and his eyes were blue as hell. Before any of you say anything, you’d remember what happened before you got chucked out of your tower too.” 

“Whatever you say, man,” Clint mumbled, taking a sip of his drink. Tony was actually surprised that he could joke and let his guard down in any room that Loki was in. 

“Not to interrupt the party, Stark, but I’ve kind of been waiting for you to ask the obvious question.”

“How you got that eyepatch? No, I don’t think I want the nightmares. Thanks for letting me know my options are open.”

“Ha ha - no. Remember when I said you have six new roommates?”

“Yeah, once I saw him I figured he was the sixth. I’m a genius, remember? Though I’m pretty sure a 5 year old could have made that leap just as easily.”

“And you’re fine with this?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll put him on the same floor I put Thor and...hmm...you, Bruce. That pretty much does it for me. Not that Jarv isn’t the ultimate babysitter or anything. I’m not happy about _any_ of you living here, but I’ve got a feeling Nick’s gonna start begging soon and I wouldn’t want to embarrass him in front of Snape over there.” 

Finally Loki responds, though it’s only to raise his eyebrow at the new nickname. Shaking his head, Fury leaves the tower telling Tony that the rest is up to him to figure out. Bruce and Natasha were both familiar with Tony’s highly advanced technology, but the two aliens and the man frozen in time - not so much. Clint was just impressed in the normal sense of the word, but the others looked a mix between shocked and amazed as Tony pulls up a model of the tower almost from out of thin air before enlarging it, turning it into a cross section, and eliminating all of the Stark floors, R&D floors, and his personal floors.

“What is this sorcery?” Thor asked, looking slightly alarm.

“This isn’t magic 300, this is science.”

“Wait...did you make this...computer thing?” Steve asked.

“Yup.”

“Why isn’t this kind of tech available to anyone else? SHIELD totally needs this stuff. I bet you still have weapons files somewhere that would knock our shit out of the water. You know, we used to almost exclusively use Stark tech,” Clint went on.

“Hah, bet they’d love that. Some stuff is just for me. Gift to myself and all that,” Tony said absentmindedly as he assigned the floors. Bruce, Thor, and Loki had the floor just below his, and Natasha, Clint, and Steve’s floor was just under theirs. The assassins and soldier in question were the first one to leave the penthouse, all having already brought their things. Bruce left next to go pack. That left just Thor and Loki sitting on a couch as Tony swiped away the tower plan and started messing with it’s security. 

“Come, brother, we must get our belongings from the metal-”

“It is called a plane, Thor,” Loki interrupted, rolling his eyes, “and I will get my things in my own time.”

“But brother-”

“If you cannot trust me on my own, I do not see why your, as you call them, ‘brother’s in arms’ would see fit to.”

“He’s fine, Goldilocks. I’ll blow my rape whistle if he starts making me uncomfortable,” Tony said, eyes not moving from the projected screen as he switched to the security cameras, so he missed the God of Mischief’s suppressed laughter. 

“Very well. I shall see you in our quarters later, brother.” With that, Thor exited the room as well, leaving just the two of them. Done fixing things for what he was determined to call squatters, Tony smashed the projection between his hands and it disappeared.

“That is truly quite impressive. I can see how one could confuse it with magic,” Loki commented, having not moved from the couch. 

“Well, I aim to amaze,” he replied before muttering something about similar base codes and energy fluctuations. 

“Honestly, I did not expect you to agree so easily to my presence here.” 

“Eh...well, why not. I mean, who hasn’t gotten in with the wrong crowd and killed a bunch of people? Well...except Steve...I think all of his were justified in war...and probably Thor...he doesn’t seem the type to go on a murderous rampage, unless smashing the-” Tony’s eyes widened as he realized a security checkpoint he had missed, “JARVIS, deadlock the top floor. Only I have access. Don’t even make the elevator button functional - voice request only. If anyone tries to get up there, notify me immediately. If that person happens to be involved with SHIELD, you have permission to use force if necessary.”

_The floor has been sealed, sir. The electric gate is now on standby._

“Thanks J, you’re a lifesaver.”

“And that was...?” Loki asked, looking around before staring at the ceiling. His confusion was priceless.

“That’s my AI - Artificial Intelligence. Kind of like a living computer. I made him,” Tony explained, his focus now back on the dangerous mage in his living room. Or was he a wizard? Sorcerer? Who knows. 

“I...see. What is on the top floor that you are so intent on hiding?” he asked with a smirk.

“Ugh,” Tony rolled his eyes at the ceiling, “don’t you go around telling people I’ve got fucking secret shit upstairs. I don’t need _that_. No one’s staying here if I can’t - it doesn’t matter. My latest project is upstairs, and it’s not ready for prying eyes yet. I haven’t even had the chance to do the first trial yet. Wonder if I can get away with it, with you all living here...” the inventor trailed off, lost in thought. 

“Do not worry yourself. I am here to repay my debt to Midgard, not ruin your...science.”

Tony laughed at that. If only Loki knew what he was up to...

What if he told Loki what he was up to? No one knows magic better than Loki, right? It’s also likely that he understands how a bifrost works better than Thor does. He was tempted...so tempted. The trickster in question interrupted his musings.

“What you said earlier, about my eyes...I would prefer it if you did not mention it to my brother again. I do not want to have to explain to him what really happened.”

“So Thor’s your brother again? I seem to remember a lot of shouting of ‘you are not my brother’ a while ago. What’s the big secret there?”

“Now, now,” Loki grinned, completely ignoring Tony’s comment about his family, “that’s hardly fair. It will be a secret for a secret or nothing at all.” 

“Let me think on it, and I’ll let you know.” It was the best response he could offer. This was the kind of endeavor that required a lot of trust to let anyone in on. Choosing someone known as the God of Lies as that person didn’t seem like a good idea, even to him. Then again, he would probably help more than he’d hurt. 

Meanwhile Loki nodded and left the penthouse, finally going to get his luggage out of the plane. Tony found it beyond hilarious that Loki was so easily adapting to Earth while Thor was hopelessly confused more often than not. Once he was sure that he was completely alone again, he headed into the elevator himself.

“Alright Jarv, get me to the top. What’s the progress?”

_I’m assuming you are speaking of project gay pride rather than project Dumbledore, sir?_

“Uh yeah, but how about we talk about both. What’s up?” Tony inquired as the elevator began to move. 

_The energy sequence reconfiguration in project Dumbledore will be finished in 2 hours and 58 minutes. The rendering of project gay pride’s generating system is now complete._

“Music to my ears. Are the new arc reactor engines up there?”

_Yes, they are right where you left them._

“Oh...right.” Once the elevator stopped on what he now called the bifrost floor just to himself, he quickly typed in his code and had his body scanned. He spent the next 5 hours completely immersed in constructing what could possibly be considered, eventually, a bifrost. When JARVIS informed him of the completed portal energy sequence reconfiguration it went in one ear and out the other. 

_Sir?_ JARVIS inquired once Tony had to stop for a much needed coffee break.

“Yeah, J?”

_As I informed you nearly 3 hours ago, your sequences have finished reconfiguring. Would you now like to see the results?_

“Oh shit, yeah pull ‘em up,” he said, only taking a single sip of his drink before sitting it right back down as a screen appeared before him and he started to analyze the results. 

“Wow...this is...do we know for sure that there’s only one tesseract?”

_I only know as much as anyone on the planet does, sir._

“Right...oh by the way, start doing constant scans of Loki paying special attention to magic related readings.”

_Certainly. Might I suggest asking Mr..._

“I dunno Jarv, if you call him the wrong last name he might blow up half the tower trying to destroy you or something.”

_Might I suggest asking Loki of the tesseracts? He seems to be the most knowledgeable contact you have in regards to magic and otherworldly devices._

Tony sighed - the AI certainly had a point, there. “What about the fact that he tried to take over the planet and threw me out of my own window?”

_He seemed cooperative and amiable enough earlier today. Perhaps it is a resource worth considering?_

He couldn’t help but sigh again as he picked up his coffee and got rid of the screen full of portal information. All of this different information and different applications and sources with separate power and energy readings...it was all incredibly distracting. Sometimes Tony honestly didn’t know why he started on this project - it was pretty much pioneering a new branch of science. Sure, he didn’t invent or discover magic, but it certainly had never been explained by science or considered a scientific discipline of any sort. Hell, no one on ‘Midgard’ could even practice it as far as he knew. Once he finished his beverage he tried to do some more work, but his mind could no longer focus on a single task. The inventor vowed to work more on it tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

 

Over the next week a pattern began to emerge. Every morning Steve would wake up at the crack of dawn and go on a run. Sometimes Natasha went with him, as she was also an early riser unlike everyone else in the tower. If not joining Steve, she did yoga - for some reason on the roof. Tony was initially wary of this. Roof. Very close to super top secret project. Super spy so close to secrets... not good. JARVIS monitored the situation very thoroughly - and continues to do so - and hasn’t seen any indication of her snooping around on these occasions. 

Next up was usually Bruce and Clint. Once awake, Bruce usually had breakfast and tried to get Tony to join him before he would go work on some of his own projects on the R&D floors that weren’t specifically Tony’s. If he woke up early enough, Clint would go up to the rooftop and look out at the city while Natasha finished up her yoga. Otherwise no one really knew how he spent his time. Usually he would appear the same time Natasha did, so everyone figured they were off doing something together be it SHIELD work or...whatever they considered romantic. There was a 96.5% chance that they were dating. 

Thor and Loki were the last to wake up, Loki surprisingly sleeping longer than Thor most days. Sometimes Thor would leave to visit Jane, flying off with his hammer none too subtly. Loki tended to keep to himself, often lying around appearing to do nothing and only speaking when spoken to. This had led to a variety of things on different occasions; he once played a game of cards with Steve and talked about old books, on another he ended up going to the grocery store with Bruce which had ended up being the funniest excursion the doctor had ever been out on. Clint kept his distance, thus making any interaction with Natasha a rare thing. Though once he was reading ‘War and Peace’ while hanging upside down from the balcony - they had a conversation about Russian literature and his abnormal choice in reading positions. 

Notably missing from the weeks activity was the owner of the tower itself. Tony had been locked in his lab ever since he woke up the day after Loki had arrived and saw all of the data JARVIS had gathered. Not only did he get readings on the magic Loki did, but there were lower level magical readings coming constantly, seeming to just be an additional part of his being. He was making leaps and bounds with both of his secret projects, forgetting all of his ‘important work and SHIELD projects’. Things also forgotten included eating and sleeping. As the week wore on his experiments became more and more radical. 

No one took much notice on the first day of his self imposed isolation. Bruce expressed a brief concern, warning the others that he might not come out for a long time. A long time meant different things to different people. On day two Thor tried going up to speak to him and was quickly turned down. The morning of day three had Steve pleading with Tony to come out and eat something. “Maybe later, I’ve got a thing with a sparky thing and it might put a hole through...an important thing if I don’t-shit gotta go bye.” Steve returned downstairs entirely confused. Should anyone know how to translate Tony’s vague speech, which no one really can aside from JARVIS, what he would have heard was “No way in hell, I have this proton ray manipulating matter and if it moves a millimeter away from the level of natural electric charge residing in living beings it could theoretically rip a big dimensional hole in the tower. Fuck I need to get over there, go away!” You didn’t get that from what he said earlier? Huh, really.

Day four had Natasha screaming at him through the intercom about responsibilities and teamwork...just all kinds of stuff that he really couldn’t care less about. What he was doing could change the entire face of humanity...if he could trust other people with it...which was unlikely. So, what he was doing could change his entire life and the way he looked at the world. Also the applications that magic could have within technology seemed like a definite game changer. Just had to actually figure out the magic first. 

On the fifth day the two spies tried to break into the lab. Hacking through JARVIS did not prove an easy feat. Plus, the AI certainly could sound pleasantly threatening. Day six and seven were just as unproductive, Bruce finally deciding that this was ridiculous and trying to coax Tony out with his own research and then Clint and Thor, both on separate occasions trying to just blow the door off. During these obnoxious and pointless endeavors Tony had been on the top floor anyway. The bifrost was over half way constructed and once it was finished and able to run trials there was a small chance that he could actually get it to work. Honestly he didn’t have a real reason to need his own bifrost...the possibility of being able to create one had been too great, though. If SHIELD caught wind of it there was already a failsafe. He didn’t trust them and refused to let them have access to the kind of technology that could actually destroy worlds. 

The morning of day eight had him soldering together sheets of vibranium, which he had painstakingly made. After creating his own element, the idea of finding and manufacturing more of the rare metal became very appealing. His success in this endeavor also led him to creating a significant amount of adamantium. His bifrost was constructed almost exclusively with the nearly indestructible metal and metal alloy. To do what it had to do, it would have to be the most resilient structure ever built. He was actually working on accepting the fact that it’s successful use may mean the destruction of Stark Tower. Maybe he should try to reinforce the structure. There really wasn’t a deadline for any of this. As far as his solitary confinement went, though, his fellow Avengers did not agree. At this point, though, they didn’t know of any option that might work.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Natasha complained, sitting on one of the barstools in Tony’s penthouse. 

“Do you think he’s going to die up there?” Steve asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

“Maybe,” Clint answered at the same time that Bruce said that JARVIS wouldn’t let that happen. 

“Tony has about a million and one protocols, and I’m pretty sure a good amount of them ensure that he lives through his own stupidity. He’s like a mad scientist. I feel like he’s up there cackling about creating some kind of...retroreflective suit with rocket grade thrusters or something.”

“That was very specific,” Natasha commented. 

“Sometimes when he starts talking about his work and doesn’t stop I catch words here and there. Mostly I just end up falling asleep, which I figure is fine because I really think Tony just likes the sound of his own voice sometimes,” Bruce replied, causing Clint to try to hold back laughter.

“There must be something that can be done?” Thor persisted, “It is not healthy for one to go so long confined as the Man of Iron has been. In all my years I have never seen one so willing to isolate themselves for their own endeavors, aside from...” His eyes went wide and he turned around to where Loki had been laying on the couch, leisurely eating an apple and reading the back of a video game that someone had left on the coffee table. With Tony not around, they all used his penthouse as they pleased. Noticing his brother’s stare, Loki looked up.

“Brother, you more than anyone should know how to remove one from-”

“No. I am not his mother nor are any of you. Just because I’ve behaved similarly does not mean I would know how to get another to cease behaving as such.”

“You could think of it as a portion of your debt to be repayed,” Thor countered.

Loki sighed as he stood up, rolling his eyes as he walked to the elevator. Before it could close he braced his arms on both doors and addressed the Avengers, “Just as Thor was not ready to be king, you all are not truly a ‘team’. You may be warriors in your own right, but the concept of working alongside another seems to be foreign to you. I was not sent here to clean up your messes. Each of you has their own agenda, superseding any camaraderie that may exist between you. Unless you are united for the same goal or invested in the others personally I doubt the ‘Avengers Initiative’ will last more than a few months before you all become each other’s enemies. I do not intend to goad or offend you,” he added, observing the looks on the other’s faces, “but I felt I must repay another debt by informing you now before this all gets wildly out of hand. I certainly know how that goes and believe me, you will someday thank me for this.” With a self depreciating smile he let go of the elevator doors and disappeared to the top floors.

“Wow,” was all Bruce had to say.

“How does that asshole think he can go around saying shit like that?!” Clint complained, clenching his fists so tightly that he had started shaking a little from the building tension.

“...he does kind of have a point, though. When I was in the army-”

“Oh can it Steve. That was ages and ages ago,” Clint interrupted. He was not willing to listen to anything in Loki’s defense. 

“No, Steve’s right. We need to learn how to behave as a team,” Natasha said, effectively shutting the archer up. 

“Yes, we shall be great friends the likes of Sif, the warriors three and I!” Thor exclaimed happily, likely glad that his brother’s words hadn’t caused him any serious trouble with the others. 

Said brother was now standing in front of the door to Tony’s lab, resting his chin on his hand and simply staring at the door. Like most things in the tower it was powered by electricity generated by the arc reactor. The thing was that he had no idea what the arc reactor really was, even though he had read a lot about it in the Midgardian newspaper and several magazines, not to mention overhearing others speaking of it. The energies it gave off were also foreign to him - it was unlike any element he had ever encountered. In all of his years, nearly a millenia studying magic and the realms...everything he deemed important, this _thing_ was not possible. 

It was also incredibly disconcerting how resistant to magic it was. While it was remarkably resistant in it’s pure form, one of which Stark had in his chest - he assumed to power his suit, though that seemed admittedly incredibly stupid - the very diluted energy that slipped through into the electricity was much easier to manipulate. With a sigh, he dropped his hand and straightened up. Then, after so many moments of stillness, he quickly shifted into a stance, and brought his arms out from a crossed position in front of his chest. The doors opened and he walked inside. His senses were assaulted with the strange feeling of the odd energy and he saw more Midgardian technology than he had even assumed existed.

“Security breach!” Tony said, looking back at Loki from where he had been working on a biofeedback device that scanned the different levels of charged energies within the human body. Lots of very small, intricate tools. Not as fun as the bifrost control panel he was building upstairs. Though that was pretty small, too. Smaller than the big adamantium generating fan he had built the other day. Well...that JARVIS rendered and he put together. Details, details. 

“I could hardly say it was difficult,” Loki replied, walking forward.

“JARVIS! You heard the man. Stop slacking.”

_I do apologize, sir. A full security readout will be available for you right away. I suggest you read it in regards to project Dumbledore._

“Jay! Ixnay on the arryHay otterPay.”

_Sir I must say, that was juvenile even for you._

Tony rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s a critic. I didn’t programme you to make fun of me, Jarv. Don’t make me create a software patch,” he said as he put his tools down and focused on the god in his lab, “What’s up Bambi?”

“I’ve been sent to fetch you. Seems I’ve arrived a little too late, being as you look like you’ve just climbed out of Niflheim.”

“Wow, they must be _really_ getting concerned. That’s funny. Be a dear and tell them that this is my tower and I can still eject them. I mean evict them. Say evict. They don’t need to know...I wouldn’t do it anyway, I like those floors. It would be annoying to renovate those floors.”

“Is it just me or did you nearly threaten to blast your teammates out of the tower if they did not stop nagging you? You’ve almost got me thinking that you should be considered more dangerous than me,” Loki smirked, leaning against the counter across from Tony. 

“I’m sure we could have a nice long chat about that very topic, but I think we’d need a lot of alcohol and minimal access to resources. Now you’ve left your message, you can get back to doing whatever it is you do - Quidditch?” 

Loki made a face before walking over to sit next to the inventor. “If you don’t mind, I am incredibly curious about your work. Would it be bothersome for me to stay and watch?” He wasn’t even lying, Loki found all of this incredibly fascinating. Plus, perhaps if he learned more about how Midgardians created things...well, not even Midgardians. It would appear that no one else can do whatever it is that this man could do. This activity could theoretically give him insight into so many different things. 

“Hmm...maybe...but on a different project. This one is really small...maybe something for SHIELD...” Tony mumbled, getting up and walking to the elevator. Increasingly interested, Loki followed. It didn’t make sense for him to show a former enemy future devices he was creating for the ones who caught him. Either way, that is how he ended up in what Stark called ‘Lab 2’, watching the other man build a very high tech and advanced version of a forge. Technically it was involved in all of his top secret projects, but not in a revealing manner. His current forge just didn’t have a fast enough output, and there were so many things he could improve. Reach a higher temperature, have a stronger integration with JARVIS, create stronger moulds...anything. 

“This seems a little extravagant, don’t you think?” Loki asked, imagining the forges on Asgard. The blacksmiths were able to make very fine wares without all of the innovations that Stark was making. Even more so for Svartlehiem. 

“I don’t live in ye olde village - I have electricity. No one else has a forge like this. In fact, they don’t have one like my current one, either...or like...the last...twelve.”

“Twelve?” Loki raised an eyebrow, “Enlighten me, what do _normal_ Midgardian forges look like?” From out of nowhere Tony suddenly had a screen pulled up in front of him and quickly found him some adequate examples of typical forges. “They do look much more...like forges. At least, like forges as I know them.”

“Alright, you know what? C’mon Casper, you’re with me. I’m going to show you exactly why no one can compare themselves to me. They think they can, but they don’t know the half of it.”

Once again the god found himself following the genius into the elevator. This time they went down to one of lowest floors. When they got out, they were in a room full of heat resistant suits, headwear, gloves, and boots. There was also a giant window. This was were Tony lead him. Through this window Loki saw a forge similar to the one being created upstairs, only differing in appearance slightly along with the fact that he was viewing this machine in action. 

“How is it that your materials can be forged with such precision if you do not have any involvement in this process?” Loki asked absentmindedly, face pressing ever closer against the glass. 

“For all intents and purposes, I create whatever it is that I want to make digitally before sending it to JARVIS to be rendered. JARVIS runs the forge. If I need to get into fixing any small details, well...that’s why I’m the one with the welding mask and a blowtorch. C’mon, back up. I have a...thing...about a...well, I guess you could call it a conductor...”

Loki’s eyes narrowed as he followed the inventor back into the elevator. The man was keeping a large amount of secrets from those who were meant to be his friends. He was surprised when they entered Lab 3 again. This time, instead of heading back to his biofeedback device, Tony went over to a device extraordinarily similar to the arc reactor. The only difference being that the conductor spun the energy in lightening-like circles that flashed between the usual light blue and a very distinctive gold. Without any type of explanation, Stark began to pull out cords and get to work on whatever it is he was doing. Brow furrowing, Loki stepped closer to the device. It hadn’t been on when he was up here previously, he was all but sure of it. A cannibalized form of magic radiated through the area, originating from the strange energy that was being conducted by the genius’ machine. 

“What is this?” he asked, voice coming out in a whisper.

Tony glanced up, eyes widening. He had forgotten about the likelihood of the god  being able to recognize the presence of other magics, though admittedly the ‘magic’ that was present in the conducting reactor wasn’t even anything close to ‘real’ magic. It just had similar properties to it. He had come up with three ways to test what he was currently calling the Alchemist Reactor Mark 1. First, wire it to accept electrical signatures and try powering various things with it, testing for efficiency against Arc Reactor powered items and standard electricity powered items. This plan made the most sense and was crafted earlier on in the week. The second plan was to direct the energy into a laser and test it firing range style. More of a middle of the week thought. The most recent and most idiotic test was to transfer the energy into a miniature reactor and stick it into himself and have a test fly with the suit. He thought that up this morning and was pretty excited about it. 

“That is the first round of testing for a new energy source that could theoretically change everything about...everything. It’s really just a prototype. The prototype of a prototype. In fact, don’t even pay it any mind it doesn’t come close to the end results I’m going for. It’s not even a baby step in the direction.”

The trickster couldn’t help but give a small smirk at the other man’s fast talking attempt at distraction. He stepped closer to the device, frustrated that he didn’t understand what it was and how it had come to be. He was certainly correct in his assumptions that this mortal was possibly the most advanced of his race and worth keeping track of. 

“What are you planning on doing with it right now?” he asked, finally turning his gaze toward Tony. 

“Well...first round of testing so it should be something small...I was going to connect these cords into that miniature electrical grid behind me...but you know what? Go big or go home.” Loki raised an eyebrow as the man proceeded to drop all of the wires, abandoning them in search for one of the partially constructed miniature arc reactors that were only missing the core element. 

“Do you think this wise, Man of Iron? To fool around with powers you do not understand?”

“Hey, I’ve done all of the theoretical work. JARVIS what’s the statistical likelihood that this will all blow up in my face?”

_There is a 87.492% chance that this test run will result in failure and destruction, causing unknown damage and bodily harm. There is a 54.815% chance that other residents of the tower will be effected._

“That’s not too bad, actually,” Stark commented, walking over to stand next to Loki, reactor in hand.

“You are obviously delusional. I shall have to remove you from this lab before you destroy yourself and everything in it.”

“Aww never knew you cared so much, Bambi, I’m touched,” he replied, deliberately ignoring the God of Mischief’s warnings and setting up the reactor to complete the core. 

_Sir, are you sure you wish to do this?_ JARVIS actually sounded frightened. Taking this as severe as it was intended to be, Loki began to edge his way over to the frankly _insane_ genius. 

“Yup - initiate core power transference.”

_Core power transference initiated._

With tired eyes, Tony watched the energy beam into the reactor, stabilizing itself into the core and proceeding to power the electromagnet. He jumped when Loki’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“What the hell, Rudolph?! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” he complained. 

“I believe it is time that we take our leave,” was all the trickster offered in reply. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tony said, rolling his eyes and picking up Loki’s hand to drop it off of his shoulder only to have the god in question grab his arm in response just as the core power transference completed. 

“Ugh...tell you what Reindeer Games, if you keep your teleport-y fingers to yourself, I’ll let you in on what’s going on in here. Sound like a deal?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is it going so far? I'm still not sure where exactly this is heading and would love your suggestions for things that should happen. This is just a free for all, really, mould this story around what you wanna read because seriously.

**Author's Note:**

> Suggestions?! Tell me what your imagination is doing. I have basic things I want the story to do but it's like...wibbly wobbly whatever let's do this


End file.
